1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to indicators that disclose at a glance whether a fall arresting device has been subjected to fall arresting forces
2. Background Information
It is generally considered good practice, and is, in fact, a federal law in some trades, that if a personal fall protection system or component has been subjected to fall arrest forces, it must be removed from service for inspection or repair, or may even need to be destroyed. However, a number of systems or components do not afford a positive means that will indicate whether such forces have been applied. Another problem that is associated with a class of devices known as self retracting lifelines ("SRL's") is that due to their extensive range, even if they incorporated an indicator on the SRL housing, it is often not visible to the user. This is because the unit is often mounted high overhead. Therefore, there is a need for an indicator that will positively identify that a fall has occurred and that may be placed in close proximity to the user. Such an indicator could be used on many components such as a lanyard, trolley, horizontal line, rope grab, hoist or harness. It is also envisioned that such an indicator could be used in situations where materials rather than personnel are actively protected from falls.
The fall indicator of the present invention overcomes the difficulties described above and affords other features and advantages heretofore not available.